While harvesting earlier in the week, I came across this handsome guy. He was sitting on a broccoli head contemplating me.

By Sue St. Jean

While harvesting earlier in the week, I came across this handsome guy. He was sitting on a broccoli head contemplating me.

The way the praying mantis moves his head and legs is both inhuman and vaguely familiar, making this insect truly creepy. The initial response to being stared at by this creature is probably to try to kill it, but you should resist.

Praying mantises are beneficial insects. This means that they help to control the populations of pests that destroy our gardens. We all think of bees and lady bugs as beneficials, but there are other, less known, less cute insects that are quietly helping to balance out the ecosystem of our yards. Are you familiar with the assassin bug or the lacewing? Get to know your friends from your enemies.

Don't get me wrong, praying mantises are vicious killers. They will eat aphids, leaf miners and cucumber beetles, which is a good thing, but they will also chow down on lady bugs and bees. Given no other option, they will even eat each other (and what happens when praying mantises mate is enough to put you off romance for life. Look it up on YouTube then come back to me).

Some bugs can truly be a problem in our gardens, but when we choose to use broad-spectrum pesticides as the answer, we decimate populations of insects that are helping us. As Master Gardeners, we try to use Integrated Pest Management. techniques to limit the effects of pests. These techniques include crop rotation and using companion planting to either attract or repel certain insects.

A praying mantis may have a face only a mother could love, but as gardeners, we owe him some respect. Just make him stop staring at me.